A Flickr Friend

I received the most wonderful package of crafty goodness from Jacqueline with the most beautiful card which I will share here with you in a moment.  I had contacted Jacqueline via Flickr because she makes these amazing collage cards and grid cards, they take my breath away everytime and I wanted to try my hand at a "collage" type card but I just could not figure out what to do!  So, Jacqueline offered to send me one of her beautiful cards so that I could have a close up personal look. Well, it's beautiful, here it is:

Isn't this beautiful!  That awesomeTea Dyed background, the vellum embossed butterfly, those Hydrangeas from Hero Arts which have been dabbed with a bit of water colour!  And that tiny little tag!   I love this card, the aged look it has, and it's mine!  I get to keep it and admire it whenever I want!  Thank you Jacqueline!  And thank you too for all these amazing bits and pieces...

 And, it wasn't long before I used up a few of your scraps and made this card for my Mother which I know she will love because the Hydrangea is going to remind her of her life in France, when we were small, our tiny back garden had a lot of these flowers! (It's not a collage, not yet, I still have to practice some more!)

Paper: Scraps from Jacqueline
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Lace from my stash

Obviously I cannot comment much as the centre panel and the beautiful patterned papers all came from Jacqueline!  I did not have to do too much here, the beautiful stamped panel has centre stage!

Friends are just wonderful gifts!

Inspiration from Hero Arts

For those of you who are not aware, there is an awesome 5 day blog hop, with prizes, going on over at the Hero Arts blog!  It's not too late to join in the fun!

The current Monthly Hero Arts challenge had three options for crafters, either the technique of masking and/or inspiration from their new 2011 Catalog and/or "card insides" i.e. stamp the outside and the inside of your card.

I wanted to make a Thank You card for someone today, and I took my inspiration from all the Flower cards in the new catalogue (as well as in the Blog Hop), and also one of the Hero Hues,they call it Floral, I call it Purple/Lavender, check out page 81 of the catalogue.

Paper: Hero Arts notecard, Neenah White cardstock, PTI Rustic white cardstock
Ink: Dusty COncord and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks, Memento Tuxedo Black, Hero Arts Iris Chalk Ink
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Ribbon and gems from my stash, White Gel pen

The flower was stamped twice and paper pieced and adhered with dimensional dots.  I also added some white gel pen to really make the flower pop, I like that effect.  A few gems adorn the centre!

I stamped a seperate piece of cardstock with the Cling Stripes stamp in Iris Chalk ink and adhered that to the bottom of the card.

Not difficult, and I like the clean bright happy look!

Thank you for passing by!  And thanks to all of you who leave me such wonderful comments!  I savour every single one of them!

A Child's Thank You

I wanted to make a card that would come from my daughter to a family member to thank them for the wonderful gifts she received over the Christmas period, and I decided to incoporate some masking into it:

Paper: Hero Arts Notecard, Neenah Solar White, Pink cardstock & Patterned Paper (unknown)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Hero Arts Iris Chalk Ink, Copic Markers
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Felt flower and gem both from Hero Arts, Sewing

It was fun to mask the little rabbit with the text from one of Hero Arts new 2011 sets called "Dictionary Greetings".

It's a perfect day for crafting here, grey and wet and cold!  Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.  I will be posting at least once more today.  See you later!

Thank You Cards

I needed to make some Thank You cards, and for once I allowed myself to mass produce!  Hooray!  However, I still needed to try and not make things totally identical so I change a few little details here and there but I stuck with the same design, which makes cutting so much easier!

Here is part of my Thank You card set, I needed to make 12, so I replicated the colours but did not obviously photograph all 12, that would be too much to put you through!!!

Paper: Hero Arts Layering papers, PTI Cardstock, Neenah Solar White
Stamps: Purple Onion (butterfly), Hero Arts
Ink: Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Shabby Shutters,Pumice Stone Distress Inks, Versafine Onyx Black
Other: Various Stickles, Glossy Accents, Black and White Enamel Accent, Thin black beading wire

I cut all my cards to be 10cm X 10cm.  The centre strip is made by stamping the Friend Definition cling stamp using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  I then stamped the sentiment down the side.

That beautiful butterfly is from Purple Onion Design's Vintage Butterfly Set.  I simply inked each butterfly with the lightest ink first, then cut each butterfly out.  Then I inked the edges of the wings with the darker shade of complimentary ink.  I did not want to do any fussy cutting so I did not try to cut out the antenaes, I simply replaced them with gluing wire to the back of each butterfly.

Then I went ahead and "decorated" each butterfly as I wanted, either with stickles, or enamel accent or glossy accent. It was fun!  That's what counts!  Here are a few close ups:

 

Thank you for stopping by today!  Wishing you a wonderful day!

Thank You Card

Today I am going to show you the card I made for another newly made friend on the Hero Arts Flickr group, Rosemary, you can see her blog here.

Paper: PTI Cardstock, Neenah Solar White, Watercolour paper
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo & Peeled Paint Distress Ink, Adirondack Stream Paint Dabber, Versamark
Stamps: Hero Arts, Ali Edwards (sentiment)
Other: Twine (The Twinery), EK Success border punch, gems (Hero Arts), sewing, pearlized water, Clear Embossing Powder, PTI circle die

I stamped the Wildflower Garden stamp onto watercolour paper using Versamark and then clear embossed with a heat tool.  I then used the resist inking technique and inked the image up with various Distress inks listed above and wiped off any excess.

The border on the side was made by covering the Hero Arts Stripes Pattern cling stamp with Stream Aditondack paint dabber and stamping onto white paper and then using a border punch to create the scalloped edge.

I used a PTI die from their Limitless Layers Collection to create both the circles on which to place the sentiment.  Finally I added a few gems, a bit of twine and some sewing to create a long card to fit this stamp.

I am a bit tired today, ran 18 miles at 5h30 this morning in rather cold but perfect weather.  I won't be surprised if it's going to be an early night for me!

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday.

Thank You

Yesterday my friend and neighbor had us over to her house for our first ever Thanksgiving!  What a feast!  I am so thankful to have met her and her family.  They have made our lives here more worthwhile!  As a thank you I made her this card.

Paper: Hero Arts layering paper, Watercolor paper
Stamps: Hero Arts, Ali Edwards (sentiment)
Ink: Peeled Paint, Wild Honey, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo Distress Inks, Memento Brown ink, Glimmer Mist
Other: Gems from Hero Arts, Nestability Scallopped Circle Die

I used the Nestability Scalloped Circle Die to cut out the card base using Hero Arts Layering paper.  I love this layering paper, it's thick enough to make a sturdy card base, and it's white inside so you can write directly on the card!

I cut out a circle of watercolour paper, and using the Hero Arts Earth Flowers stamp set, I stamped one of the flowers in various distress inks, first spritzing the inked stamp with pearlized water.  I then sprayed the entire centre piece with some Glimmer Mist and inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

I added a few co-ordinating gems, stamped the sentiment from Ali Edwards (Technique Tuesday), and that was it!  I love that watercolour effect, it's just so soft and pretty.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

OWH Midweek Throwdown Challenge

This week OWH (Operation Write Home) are reaching out for masculine cards in their Midweek Throwdown Challenge!  I have often wondered what was actually meant by a "masculine card".  Did it mean a card from a man to another man, like father to son, son to father etc...but then to put myself out of my misery I decided it must mean a card that has a masculine look and feel.

So yesterday I made two cards to add to my box for this worthy cause, and I played along with the current requirements and made them look masculine, in my eyes at least.

Paper: kraft; old stash
Stamps: Hero Arts; PTI Woodgrain Background Stamp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Vintage Photo & Peeled Paint Distress Ink

I really enjoyed making this first card with "camo" paper, a bit of a woodgrain background on kraft and those beautiful Christmas trees from Hero Arts again inked with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress ink.  I stamped a small sentiment on a tab which I simply stapled to the panel, I don't think it can get more masculine or rugged than that.  What do you think?  I am also going to submit this one for the current Hero Arts contest.

This next card was an even simpler card with only the sentiment being stamped.  Don't you love that sentiment, it's from Ali Edwards' collection from Technique Tuesday.  Sometimes we simply have to say thank you, for everything.....because there is so much to be thankful for. I love those patterned papers from Bo Bunny.

Paper: Bo Bunny
Ink: Adirondack; Memento Tuxedo Black; Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Stamp: Ali Edwards from Technique Tuesday
Other: Mat Stack Die PTI

A short post today as we leave shortly for Austin and our Half Marathon in New Braunfels tomorrow!  Very excited!  And then to fetch Mom on Sunday!

Wishing you all a wonderfully productive weekend filled with lots of time together with those special people in our lives.  Chat to you all again on Monday!

This is It!

So, this is it...After following and reading so many wonderful crafting blogs out there I have finally put most of the butterflies at bay, (not all of them, I can still feel a few in my stomach!), and here it is, my very first blog post!  Age has nothing to do with starting new things, everything is possible.

Obviously I should post something crafty right, but before that I want to say a few thank you's.  A major thank you to Niki from Paperchain in South Africa, (where I was living since 1972 until this year).  Niki got me to fall in love with the art of rubber stamping.  I went to her and got a class on some basics like ink and paper, alcohol inking etc.  She is an awesome teacher and loves her craft, and her creations are beautiful.  She is also the one that got me hooked on Hero Arts, so yes, because of her I could almost open a store at my house!  But I love it all.

Thanks to all the great people over at the Hero Arts Flickr group.  You are all so awesome, kind hearted and super helpful.  That surprise card drive for Jenny and Jason's wedding on the 10/10/10 totally blew me away, it spoke volumes as to who you all are!  I am still in awe!  And thank you for the positive input with regards to starting a blog, it helped me move forward on this desire I have had for a while now.

My husband is going to think that this is gorky if he ever gets to read it, but I have to thank him for never asking questions and always encouraging me with his nightly "Go and make cards, I don't want to see you until 10pm!", you've got to love that in a man!

I will not yet promise a daily blog update, I am new to this, but that is definitely what I will shoot for, so bear with me as I live and learn.

So, I know that those in the HA Flickr group have seen this card already, but today I give you this card as a show of thanks and appreciation for all your never ending sweet comments for the cards I have posted as well as the continuous inspiration you provide!  Thank you!!!

Stamps: Butterflies and background Flourish by Hero Arts; Sentiment by Ali Edwards
Ink: CTMH; Copics; Memento Black Ink
Paper: Papertreyink; Neenah Solar White